Winter PNW Steelhead Fly Fishing Questions

[JohnSmith]

TLDR: Ive struggled with indicator nymphing big rivers, is swinging more effective for big water? Am I limited to smaller water with the indicator setup?

So ive fly fished for trout in Montana for a few years now and i recently moved to the PNW and am trying to get into fishing for Winter PNW Steelhead.

Ive gone out to a few different coastal streams and rivers over the last month scouting them and getting a lay of the water.

Im a bank angler and have a Single Hand 9' 8wt Rod, and Ive mostly been trying to nymph with a indicator. Im not opposed to swinging with the single hander, but from my research it seems far less effective, and im not about to buy a switch or spey rod before i know if i find this type of fishing fun or worth my time.

The rivers out here are so big and deep, and the single handed fly rod seems so futile. Most of the water id like to target is to far away from the bank to effectively cast and manage line with an indicator.

Because of this ive come to the conclusion that I need to mostly fish smaller water to feel comfortable with my setup.

So im just looking for some advice as to if that is the correct conclusion and if i should maybe try to rig up a swinging setup on my rod to target the bigger rivers?

 

[Chromatose]

When your up to it, go big and ditch the indicator.

 

[jamisonace]

I can't help you with winter fish but I've caught a lot of summer fish on a single hand 8wt with both indicators and swung flies. I came from Wyoming so I get what you're saying about big water. It's hard to get used to it with fly rods.

There are plenty of small coastal streams with winter fish. What area are your fishing?

 

[RicD]

Prior to this year all my experience was single hand on smaller water, like you. I moved to the Umpqua basin and this year decided to commit to learning to spey and swing. A combination of a challenging year with river flows, learning new water (first year since moving so all new rivers for me) and the learning curve of a new style has been fun but generally unproductive from a "catching" perspective with just one landed. All that said, here's my amateur take on your question:

It depends on the water. I have found plenty of spots that would clearly benefit more from a nymph approach than a swinging and vice-versa. "Range" on big water favors the spey rod, so if you need to get it out there to reach where you think the fish are it's infinitely easier with the spey. That said, lots of spots (and river conditions) put fish basically right at the bank or in very reachable holes that are easier to get down to in depth by nymphing and drifting with no need for long casts.

I started experimenting prior to this week's rain with a nymph setup on my spey. Mending and drift management is more difficult than with a traditional single hander but by feeding line I was able to get some really long dead drifts down the runs along with the ability to fire some really long casts to distant holes when I thought it was necessary. Still lots of experimenting to do there for me as I learn the quirks.

I spent a lot of time this year scouting, meeting people, and watching. The vast majority are running spinning rods with bobbers where I fished this year and it's almost all very short casts (your chosen rivers may vary) that would suit your 1-hander nymph rig more than a rod that can fire long casts. I also agree that, statistically, swinging is probably less productive than nymphing. It's fun though.

The irony of you wondering about going 2-hander or swinging is there were many days for me this year where I wished I had brought the 1-hander and nymph setup, but was committed to practicing and learning instead of catching. Grass greener sort of thing.

 

[Bob Budesa]

https://swingthefly.com/sandy-river-spey-clave/

This is coming up soon. You might check it out. It's a lot of fun, great people, and answers to all your questions.

cheers